Rants, ravings, and a cynical view of the world of high fashion, and beyond, courtesy of Nightshade Beauty...Canadian Makeup Artist, Wardrobe Stylist, and Opinionated Know-it-All.
See underneath the glitz and glitter of fashion's high rollers...it's time to see the world of high fashion in a whole new light...and realize that they're really full of shit.

11/10/09

This Week in High Fashion: I'm probably going to make some VFW enemies...

This Week in High Fashion: I'm probably going to make some VFW enemies...

Yesterday at 2:55pm

This Week in High Fashion.... Makeup and Hair by Kat actually went to a fashion show...

That's right girls and boys, I ACTUALLY was present at a show that I'm going to rag about...

Hopped up on Advil Cold and Sinus and a few glasses of wine, my best guy on my arm, I attended something I thought I never would attend... Vancouver Fashion Week...

You may not know this about me, kids, but I have a little bit of a hate on for VFW. It's purely professional, and on behalf of a lot of friends and acquaintences... so we'll leave it at that. Solidarity.

BUT

What I do like about VFW is the support given to local, amazing designers who have something to prove and the guts to back it up.

Case and point... I shashayed my way to the front row of the "Sustainable Show" at VFW as a guest of one of my fave local lady entrepreneurs, Planet Claire... *muah!*

This is where I'm going to get in trouble...

From what I've seen... sustainable designers get a lot of press in Vancouver because it's trendy to be eco... and it can't be denied...

I've seen a lot of crap designing get where it shouldn't be because they decide to use soy cotton or bamboo or something similar... just because you used bamboo, doesn't mean the clothing isn't ugly or doesn't fit like a rag.

Luckily, there wasn't a lot of that on the runway on Friday night, but there were defintely some trainwrecks in the audience... I'm talking to you, you bitches who stole my seat! Not to mention the "house photographer" with his smelly self and long gross fingernails in my personal space during the show... I don't care who you are, stop standing on my new coat!

OK, so I have to say I was really impressed with the show on Friday night... the show being the stuff on the runway... the clothing mostly... the venue was MOST impressive, but like most people, I was pretty turned off by the area of town we had to sneak through to get there, and the generous appropriation of porta-potties for honoured VIP guests... Personally, I never would have approached a carpet manufacturer for a runway venue, but is this where VFW has been chased to in their operating years? To the far reaches of Gastown industrial parks with you!!! Now, I do see the nitty gritty value of hosting the show in the industrial park, I really do, this is Vancouver's seedy greasy gritty manufactured heart, but I don't know that everyone got that little nuance.

Having been backstage at several fashion shows, and helping organize some of my own, I know the importance of a good MC to keep the crowd, organized, updated, and sitting in their damn seats to be told who is about to come on stage... VFW doesn't feel that way about fashion... they had a soft spoken young woman politely asking people over a loudspeaker to shuffle around so that VIP's could be re-arranged between each show... which is also stupid.

a) no one can hear you!

b) no one wants to move from their prime seat! I know I was miffed.I won't even get started on the poor quality sound/music for the fashion walks. GAH.

Lots of casual wear, which is nice.... not everyone has the budget to go eco on a high scale level, but being able to pick up a t-shirt or a bamboo dress is a fantastic thing...

I can't say anything bad about Nate Organics... his models were sweet and very cute, right down to the awkwardly stomping farm boy looking Olympic Athelete who stole a mic to talk about his rowing team being carbon neutral for the Beijing Games... you're a rowing team, sparky, I would hope you'd be carbon neutral, last time I checked you didn't get an Evenrude on competition day...

Nate Organics doesn't try too hard to be a design house, he does what comes naturally, which is very appropriate... and very accessable, which is so important in a market that is supposed to be about making the planet a better place.

Another designer I totally love... I deeply adore the bad-assery of Hawks Ave...

Yes, everything looks like it's made of jersey fabric... but she WORKS it. It's rock 'n roll, it's dirty, and it's a little bit trashy... yes I said trashy. Gorgeously fitted tops with tiny tiny shorts and chucks, but as an artist, I was sorely unimpressed by the half-assed cut off denim half vests with "Hawks Ave" written on the back with a sloppy hand in Jiffy Marker!...

I love the native inspired prints, I love the reversible halter top cuts, I LOVE the cowl/hoodie dresses... I have never been a fan of leggings, half shirts or booty shorts... ever...

So I was 50-50 on Hawks Ave on Friday... half love, half complete shock that a model would slouch her way down the runway feigning attitude that was paired with dead runway eyes... not buying it... but I will buy the dress she was wearing, as long as it doesn't come with the mirrored desert cop shades and the cuts and bruises on the model's legs from her bender the night before. Yikes.

I was also astounded that some of the pieces could look SO FREAKING GOOD from the front, and then so shamefully horrible from the back...

Lav and Kush is one of those design houses who IS trying to be a design house, which is great... organic wool, high quality cotton, stupidly expensive shapeless slip dresses... yeah... not my thing.

I LOVED a few suit pieces from the font, and then was amazed that a female designer would create such an unflattering backside on a skirt... pencil skirts are supposed to hug curves and enhance the shape... ruching makes things look BIGGER... ruching has NO PLACE on the centre-ass of a skirt. This is not a bustle mind you... a bustle is flattering... this arrangement was not... and it was on EVERY skirt... Not hot. Great pattern, great look... not hot on the ass.

Super shame.

Also, I was upset about the fit on the models... I don't know if it made the clothes look more awkward or whether it was on purpose (I hope not)... I know it's hard to fit a flat model ass, but there was a lot missing in that department too.

Somewhere during the night, I heard over the loudspeaker that Red Jade's designer had been called "the Versace of Vancouver". I hope they weren't serious about that... I am curious as to how this is possible though.... Cut? No. Styling? No. Construction? No. Themes? Not that I could see. Price? AH! That may be it!

What did I see on the runway? Boring batwings, lots of white, inapropriate and dated mid-calf high waisted pedal pusher pants, mod 60's cuts... some shapeless dresses... some spectacular coats though... ooooh my the coats.

LOTS of Empire waisted dresses and tops too... which on models with no shape to speak of... is highly off-putting. I like to be able to imagine how the clothing on the runway would look on my ass, and it was just NOT happening for me at Red Jade.

BUT all negativity aside, I was astounded that I liked more Red Jade designs than any other runway walk, and they seemed to have a greater variety of styles and fabric pairings, although I'm sure my pocketbook won't be able to handle my Eco-conscious burden at this time.

I'd love to put some pictures up, but there don't seem to BE any... their website features none of the clothing from the show, and show pictures themselves are highly lacking, as are pictures from all of the other Eco deigners.

So, you'll have to take my word for it... from the second row closest to the runway with a photographer in my ear and another one in front of me blocking most of my view. Special thanks to the stage manager for sending them all scurrying back to the Media Pit at the end of the runway where they belong ; )

All in all, I did have a good time... I love critiquing fashion, it's seriously fun. And really, I was intrigued to see who was actually coming out to these events... no one I recognized, but several people who obvoiusly felt that I should have recognized them... pppffttt. If that's how the "other half" lives... I'm very happy to be somewhere in the middle ground, I'm not ready for my niche/grave yet.

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About Me

Nightshade Beauty started out in a small town on the Island just west of Vancouver BC knowing that there was something better out there...just a ferry ride away. Now escaped, Nightshade is free to paint the faces of Vancouver AND BEYOND! As more than just a MUA, Nightshade someday hopes to take over the world...one stylishly cynical step at a time.